Methods and Arrangements in a Wireless Communication System

1. A method for resource allocation in a wireless communication system comprising a first radio base station serving a plurality of user equipments, each user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting and a receiving antenna, and a first scheduling unit that controls the allocation of radio resources for use by the first radio base station to said the user equipments, said the method comprising the following steps, performed by a the first scheduling unit, comprising: retrieving information regarding polarization of the antenna configuration of at least two of the user equipments; allocating resources for the at least two user equipments responsive to the information; and coordinating with a second scheduling unit, responsive to the information, the allocation of radio resources by the second scheduling unit associated with a second radio base station to serve a plurality of user equipments.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein: the step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the sub step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the receiving at least one antenna of said antenna configuration, and the step of allocating resources comprises the sub step of controlling polarization of the transmitting at least one antenna of at least one the first radio base station serving said at least two user equipments responsive to the retrieved information.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein: the antenna configuration of said at least two user equipments comprises at least one additional transmitting antenna, the step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the sub step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of each of the transmitting antennas of said antenna configuration, and the step of allocating resources comprises the sub step of controlling the transmitting antenna polarizations of said at least two user equipments responsive to the retrieved information.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the sub step of controlling polarization of the transmitting at least one antenna comprises applying transmitting antenna weights.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of allocating resources comprises the sub step of scheduling two of said at least two user equipments having substantially orthogonal antenna polarizations in the same time or frequency resource.

6. A method for resource allocation in a wireless communication system comprising a first radio base station serving a plurality of user equipments, each user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, wherein at least one scheduling unit controls the allocation of radio resources to said user equipments, the method, performed by the first radio base station, comprising: retrieving information regarding polarization of the antenna configuration of at least two of the served user equipments; transmitting the information to a scheduling unit to cause the scheduling unit to use the information when allocating resources; and coordinating with a second radio base station, responsive to the information, the allocation of radio resources by a second scheduling unit associated with the second radio base station to serve a plurality of user equipments.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the sub steps of: determining the polarization of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration responsive to a measurement of the uplink signal strength for each receiving antenna of the first radio base station, and quantizing the polarization into one of at least two possible polarization states.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the further sub step of estimating the polarization state of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration to be equal to the polarization state of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the measurement of the uplink signal strength for each receiving antenna of the first radio base station is performed for at least two frequencies.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration is retrieved from each of the served user equipments.

11. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the steps of retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration and transmitting the retrieved information are performed at regular intervals, or in response to a query from a scheduling unit, or when a defined event occurs.

12. A method for resource allocation in a wireless communication system comprising at least one radio base station serving a plurality of user equipments, each user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting and a receiving antenna, wherein at least one scheduling unit controls the allocation of radio resources to said user equipments, said method, performed by each of the user equipments, comprising: determining polarization of the antenna configuration; and forwarding information regarding the polarization to a scheduling unit, to cause the scheduling unit to use the information when allocating resources, wherein the information regarding the polarization is forwarded by the user equipment through a pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI) of a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication to a serving radio base station for forwarding to the scheduling unit.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the step of determining the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the sub steps of: determining the polarization of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration responsive to a measurement of a serving radio base station transmitting antenna specific pilots, and quantizing the polarization into one of at least two possible polarization states, said possible polarization states comprising a vertical polarization state and a horizontal polarization state.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein said possible polarization states further comprises a mixed polarization state or only one of the vertical and horizontal polarization states.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the polarization of the antenna configuration comprises the further sub step of estimating the polarization state of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration to be equal to the polarization state of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration.

16. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the measurement of the serving radio base station transmitting antenna specific pilots is performed for at least two frequencies.

17. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the steps of determining the polarization of the antenna configuration and forwarding information regarding the polarization are performed at regular intervals, or in response to a query from the scheduling unit, or when a defined event occurs.

18. A scheduling unit for a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system comprising a first radio base station serving a plurality of user equipments, each user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting and a receiving antenna, the scheduling unit arranged to control the allocation of radio resources between the first radio base station and the plurality of user equipments and comprises: a retrieving unit for retrieving information regarding the polarization of the antenna configuration of at least two of the user equipments; an allocating unit for allocating resources for said the at least two user equipments responsive to the information; and coordinating with a second scheduling unit, responsive to the information, the allocation of radio resources by the second scheduling unit associated with a second radio base station to serve a plurality of user equipments.

19. The scheduling unit according to claim 18 , further comprising a coordinating unit for coordinating the allocation of resources with a second scheduling unit responsive to the retrieved information, when more than one scheduling unit controls the allocation of resources to said at least two user equipments.

20. The scheduling unit according to claim 18 , wherein: the retrieving unit is arranged to retrieve information regarding the polarization of the receiving at least one antenna of said antenna configuration, and the allocating unit is arranged to control the transmitting antenna polarization(s) of at least one radio base station serving said at least two user equipments responsive to the retrieved information.

21. The scheduling unit according to claim 18 , wherein: the antenna configuration of said at least two user equipments comprises at least one additional transmitting antenna, the retrieving unit is arranged to retrieve information regarding the polarization of each of the transmitting antennas of said antenna configuration, and the allocating unit is arranged to control the transmitting antenna polarization(s) of said at least two user equipments responsive to the retrieved information.

22. The scheduling unit according to claim 20 , wherein the control of the transmitting antenna polarization comprises applying transmitting antenna weights.

23. The scheduling unit according to claim 18 , wherein the allocating unit is arranged to schedule two of said at least two user equipments having substantially orthogonal antenna polarizations in the same time or frequency resource.

24. A radio base station for a wireless communication system, said wireless communication system comprising a first scheduling unit controlling the allocation of radio resources to a plurality of user equipments, each user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting and a receiving antenna, the radio base station arranged to serve the user equipments and comprises: a retrieving unit for retrieving information regarding polarization of the antenna configuration of at least two of the user equipments; a transmitter for transmitting the information to the first scheduling unit to cause the first scheduling unit to use the retrieved information when allocating resources; and coordinating through a second radio base station, responsive to the information, the allocation of radio resources by a second scheduling unit associated with the second radio base station to serve a plurality of user equipments.

25. The radio base station according to claim 24 , wherein the retrieving unit is arranged to: determine the polarization of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration responsive to a measurement of the uplink signal strength for each radio base station receiving antenna, and quantize the polarization into one of at least two possible polarization states.

26. The radio base station according to claim 25 , wherein the retrieving unit is further arranged to estimate the polarization state of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration to be equal to the polarization state of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration.

27. The radio base station according to claim 24 , wherein the measurement of the uplink signal strength for each radio base station receiving antenna is performed for at least two frequencies.

28. The radio base station according to claim 24 , wherein the retrieving unit is arranged to retrieve the information from each of the served user equipments.

29. A user equipment for a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system comprising at least one radio base station serving a plurality of user equipments and at least one scheduling unit controlling the allocation of radio resources to the user equipments of the system, said user equipment provided with an antenna configuration comprising a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, and each of the user equipments further comprises: a determining unit for determining polarization of the antenna configuration, and a forwarding unit for forwarding information regarding the polarization to a scheduling unit, to cause the scheduling unit to use the information when allocating resources, wherein the information regarding the polarization is forwarded by the user equipment through a pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI) of a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication to a serving radio base station for forwarding to the scheduling unit.

30. The user equipment according to claim 29 , wherein the determining unit is arranged to: determine the polarization of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration responsive to a measurement of a serving radio base station transmitting antenna specific pilots, and quantize the polarization into one of at least two possible polarization states, said polarization states comprising a vertical polarization state and a horizontal polarization state.

31. The user equipment according to claim 30 , wherein said polarization states further comprises a mixed polarization state or only one of the vertical and horizontal polarization states.

32. The user equipment according to claim 30 , wherein the determining unit is arranged to estimate the polarization state of the transmitting antenna of said antenna configuration to be equal to the polarization state of the receiving antenna of said antenna configuration.

33. The user equipment according to claim 30 , wherein the measurement of the serving radio base station transmitting antenna specific pilots is performed for at least two frequencies.

34. The method according to claim 1 , wherein retrieving information regarding polarization of the antenna configuration of the user equipments comprises receiving the information regarding the polarization from the user equipments via the first radio base station using a pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI) according to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE).